New hires and promotions

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Movers is the place for news about high-level appointments and promotions in South Florida. Have news we should know about? Then send us an e-mail and include the title of the new position, responsibilities, a phone number, previous position held and color .jpg photos.

United Way of Broward County has named Natalie Beasley, at left, as director of income and Maria Hernandez as vice president of program operations. Beasley was, for more than 13 years, a work development manager and information officer. She also previously served as chief of staff for the Texas House of Representatives. She graduated from Southern Methodist University with a bachelor of arts degree in public affairs and economics. Previously, Hernandez was director of Broward family support services for Family Central. She holds a master’s degree in social work from Fordham University and
a bachelor’s in sociology and women’s issues at SUNY New Paltz.

Sandra
Sealshas joined the National Equity Fund’s East group as acquisitions
manager. NEF is a syndicator of low-income housing tax credits. Seals, based in
South Florida, will be part of NEF’s East group focusing on affordable housing
deals in Alabama, Florida,
Georgia and North and South Carolina. Most
recently, Seals served as vice president of government relations and new
business at Reliance Housing Foundation in Fort Lauderdale. She has also worked as a
regional redevelopment manager for South Florida
at Lennar Homes, Inc. and was a senior program officer for LISC Boston. A
graduate of the University
of Massachusetts, Seals
also holds a master’s in city planning from the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology.

Elissa
Vanaver has been named executive director, and Wayne Neunie has been named
director
of education, of Breakthrough Miami, a Knight Foundation-funded
initiative. The academic enrichment program ensures that motivated,
under-resourced middle school students graduate from high school and attend
college. Vanaver was previously the organization’s previous director of
strategic development. She has extensive journalism experience and is the former vice president of human resources and assistant to the publisher of the Miami Herald Publishing Co. Neunie will be responsible for all academic programs, the direction of 10 site staff members and year-rou
nd educational operations. Previously,
Neunie served as senior program director for the YMCA of Broward County. He has been a teacher, vice principal and principal in the Broward County school district.

Marne
J. LaForgehas been named director of corporate & foundation
relations at National Parkinson Foundation in Miami. At NPF, she has worked in the constituent relations department, supporting the foundation's mission: to improve the quality of care for people with Parkinson's disease through research, education and outreach.
LaForge previously held positions
in the medical device industry with a focus on therapies specifically
benefiting Parkinson’s patients.

Past experience: Armstrong has served Leadership Florida since 2000. He is the first chair from Broward County in Leadership Florida’s 31 year history. Armstrong is also the president of Broward College and is a member of the Broward College Foundation Board of Directors.

What’s the best advice you’ve ever received? “‘Go t
o college and get a good education!’ This was advice I heard repeatedly from my family and teachers in high school in a place and time when first generation students of modest means in rural Alabama had limited opportunity or encouragement to attend college. It has been by far the best advice I have ever received, and we should all be giving more middle school and high school students the same advice to go to college, or a technical school to learn a trade or skill, if they want to be competitive and have sustainable careers in the future. Far too many families think they cannot afford college, but with financial aid and affordable community and state colleges especially everyone can afford to go and the payoff will be significant over a lifetime!”

Junior League of Miami has chosen Leanne Frazee Tellam as president. She has ben a Junior League member for more than 15 years and will serve her fifth term on the board as first-time president. In this position, she will be training future civic leaders.

Terry Schecter has been elected president of the Funding Arts Network for a third two-year term. Schecter was previously vice president of membership and vice president of grants. As president, she is in charge of overseeing the activities for the 27-member board and day to day operations.

Corey Heller has been elected vice chairman for the board of advisors for Florida International University's Center for Leadership. He is also corporate vice president and chief human resources officer at Baptist Health South Florida. In this position, he will aid in strategic goals, lead in acquiring funds, and assist in extending the Center's outreach, and recruit participants for executive education programs.

Bradley Weiser has been added to the HistoryMiami board of trustees. Weiser is president and chief executive officer of The Continental Companies and is a trustee for Fairchild Tropical Botanic Gardens.

Herbert Brito has been appointed to the Historic Preservation Association of Coral Gables’ board of directors. In this position, Brito will help strategic objectives and make decisions upon the community’s area of preservation and education. He has also been named a Design Excellence Peer in Historic Preservation and Interior Design by the U.S. General Services Administration